Fluoride levels in Soil & Foliage in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada – 1998

By the Phytotoxicology and Soil Standards Section, Ontario Ministry of the Environment | Sept 2, 1999

In 1998 a baseline survey of contaminants in the soil and foliage was prepared in response to a request from Material Resources Recovery (MRR) to operate a PCB incinerator in the industrial park of Cornwall. The pre-operational phytotoxicology tests were conducted in the vicinity of the MRR facility by the Ontario Ministry of Environment (MOE) and by consultants for MRR. These tests were performed “for the purpose of comparison with future (post operational) sampling results.”

Tree foliage and soil samples were collected from 14 sites. 12 sites were situated at increasing distance from MRR through to about 1 km to the north, south, east, and west. The closest public park was also sampled (site 13) as was a residential/farm property (site 14).

“Samples were split at each site so that the MOE and Groundtrax [consultants for MRR] each had single foliage and soil sample for organics analysis and duplicate samples for metals analysis for the purpose of inter-lab comparison… Groundtrax submited their set of organic samples for analysis to Phillips Analytial Services… All other Groundtrax samples were submitted with the MOE samples to the Phytotoxicology Section processing laboratory.”

Cornwall is situated on the St. Lawrence River directly across from Massena, New York, and abuts the Akwesasne Nation. Two aluminum smelters are located in Massena which are now owned by ALCOA (one aluminum smelter had previously been owned by Reynolds).

RESULTS ON TESTS FOR FLUORIDE:

SOIL: ALL 28 samples tested significantly exceeded the MOE’s Guidelines for Use at Contaminated Sites in Ontario. (Pages 13-14). See Table below for results.

* Guidelines for Use at Contaminated Sites in Ontario.
“The MOE soil clean-up Guidelines have been developed to provide guidance for cleaning up contaminated soil. The Guidelines are not legislated Regulations. Also, the Guidelines are not action levels, in that an exceedence does not automatically mean that a clean-up must be conducted. The Guidelines were prepared to help industrial property owners decide how to clean-up contaminated soil when property is sold and/or the land-use changes. Most municipalities insist that contaminated soil is cleaned up according to MOE Guidelines before they will approve a zoning change for redevelopment, therefore, even though the Guidelines is voluntary most industrial property owners and developers are obliged to use it. For example, the owner of an industrial property who plans to sell the land to a developer who intends to build residential housing can use the Guidelines to clean up the soil to meet the residential land-use criteria. In this way previously-contaminated industrial land can be re-used for residential housing without concern for adverse environmental effects.” (Page 28)

** Upper Limits of Normal Contaminant Guidelines.
“The MOE Upper Limits of Normal (ULN) contaminant guidelines represent the expected maximum concentration in surface soil, foliage (trees and shurbs), grass, moss bags, and snow from areas in Ontario not exposed to the influence of a pollution source. Urban ULN guidelines are based on samples colleced from urban centres, whereas rural ULN guidelines were developed from non-urbanized areas… The ULNs do not represent maximum desirable or allowable limits. Rather, they are an indication that concentrations that exceed the ULN may be the result of contamination from a pollution source. Concentrations that exceed the ULNs are not necessarily toxic to plants, animals, or people. Concentrations that are below the ULNs are not known to be toxic.” (Page 27)

SOIL results for FLUORIDE

SITE TESTED

FOLIAGE results for FLUORIDE

MOE

MRR

MOE Guideline*

MOE

MRR

MOE Guideline**

115

877

61

Site 1

16

23

15

100

420

61

Site 2

21

21

15

130

463

61

Site 3

17

20

15

94

553

61

Site 4

10

17

15

120

626

61

Site 5

17

20

15

120

704

61

Site 6

10

15

15

140

373

61

Site 7

44

35

15

93

531

61

Site 8

56

44

15

99

628

61

Site 9

19

28

15

115

320

61

Site 10

28

20

15

115

320

61

Site 11

17

19

15

160

573

61

Site 12

28

31

15

91

287

61

Site 13 (Public Park)

33

29

15

190

485

61

Site 14

22

22

15

Site 14

26

28

15

NOTE ON THE DISCREPANCY FOR THE SOIL RESULTS, according to the report:“The Phillips [testing laboratory used by MRR consultants] and MOE soil fluoride means were in poor agreement, with the Phillips results being as much as 8 times higher (eg. Site 1). Phillips replicate fluoride results, particularly for soil Sites 2, 3, 7, 10, and 14, were also discrepant, in contrast with the corresponding MOE data. For example, at Site 10, Phillips duplicate soil samples had 136 and 504 µg/g fluoride, while the MOE soil replicates had 120 and 100 µg/g. Although the MOE uses a buffer to overcome interference, interference at all sites was still suspected and even the generally lower MOE fluoride means could still be artificially elevated. The discrepancy between the MOE and Phillips soil fluoride results is suspected to be analytical.” (Page 6)